The Victorians Concern With Morality - 1180 Words

The Victorians’ Concern with Morality â€Å"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Charles Dickens). This quote helps to sum up the Victorian Era. The Victorian Era is understood to have existed during the rule of Queen Victoria between 1837 to 1901. It was thought to be an exciting period that saw various literary schools and artistic styles along with social and political movements. The period was also described to have led to swift developments and changes from advances in scientific, technological, and medical knowledge. It was reckoned as an era of prosperity and political reform. However, in the modern world, the era has been perceived to have been filled with numerous contradictions. Writers such as Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, and Oscar Wilde all help to advance this conclusion. It was also evident due to the existence of social movements that were concerned with promoting public morals after a class system that enforced harsh living conditions were in place. Restraint and dignity coexisted with child labor and prostitution with this transformation in the Victoria Era. The Victorian Age began with great optimism and confidence which resulted in an economic boom besides growing prosperity, hence, the prosperity led to doubt and uncertainty concerning Britain’s position in the globe (Atlick Richard). This essay will focus on proving theShow MoreRelatedBrowning And Morality : The Victorian Era976 Words   |  4 PagesBrowning and Morality: The Victorian Era The purpose of this prospectus is to identify the thesis and research goals, explain the findings of a literature search, and explain how they are intended to be applied. Having chosen from the list of suggested topics, the decided thesis will be on the topic of the importance of morality and how it relates to the Victorian era, specifically morality’s role Victorian literature. It is commonly held that the Victorian era can be characterized by the shock experiencedRead MoreThe Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde1300 Words   |  5 PagesThe Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde was written in the Victorian Age of England. During this time morality was connected with sexual restraint and strict codes of conduct in public. This play hilariously critiques Victorian moral and social values while the characters in the play try to figure out the meaning of â€Å"earnestness†. Wilde uses humor and irony to publicly ridicule the self-aggrandizing attitude of the Victorian upper classes, as well as to expose their duplicity and hypocrisyRead MoreAnalysis of Oscar Wildes The Importance of Being Earnest624 Words   |  3 Pagesunusual romantic comedy that was written by Oscar Wilde during the late 19th Century as an intelligent satire of Victorian society. Since then, the play has proven to be an unchanging hit because it has exceeded its initial demographic to an extent that its regarded as the greatest stage comedy of all time. Wilde wrote the play not only to challenge received ideas in the then Victorian society but also to subvert prevailing ideas. Actually, some philosophers have argues that the entire play is aRead MoreThe Importance of Being Earnest Essay1237 Words   |  5 PagesOscar Wilde is set in England in the late Victorian era. Wilde uses obvious situational and dramatic irony within the play to satirize his time period. 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According to the text of Thiroux and Krasemann, the topic of sexual morality is truly â€Å"the heart of morality† (260). The morality of human sexuality and marriage deeply covers the complex characteristics of human relationships and friendships, sexuality, love, intimacyRead MoreRomanticism In Victorian Childhood1653 Words   |  7 PagesRomanticism, Victorian England and the portrayal of Motherhood In the Victorian Era, British society experienced a division of the family dynamic into masculine and feminine roles; the husband attended to the public affairs, while the wife was expected to tend to the domestic matters of the home. The home took on symbolic importance in Victorian society, for it was a haven for the individual to express emotions and manners that couldn’t be expressed publicly. It was in the privacy of the home thatRead MoreMarriage and Divorce in the Post Victorian Era Essay765 Words   |  4 PagesMarriage and Divorce in the Post Victorian Era Marriage is a social structure. When couples get married they enter into a relationship that is societally recognized and to some degree societally regulated. Laws, customs, traditions and cultural assumptions are intrinsically involved in defining the path that a marriage will take. In the late 19th century many Americans had to come to terms in some way with the societal expectations of marriage, guided by the Victorian mores. But as the 20th centuryRead MoreLady Audley s Secret Is At Its Core855 Words   |  4 PagesLady Audley’s Secret is, at its core, a novel about the instability of identity. Mary Elizabeth Braddon uses the novel to play upon people’s anxieties about the anonymity of strangers. In the Victorian era, there was the idea that a person’s exterior appearance could accurately reflect the nature of that person. This roughly translates to the belief that those that are beautiful are virtuous and those that are ugly are wicked. Hand in hand wi th that came the even more disturbing (at least to a modern